


Getaway Green

by TomiTom



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Family Issues, Green has a lot of problems, Growing Up, Internal Conflict, M/M, Multi, No Dialogue, Not implied but also not explicit, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Discovery, Sexual Content, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Written in present tense, he learns how to work through them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:40:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23171086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TomiTom/pseuds/TomiTom
Summary: When Green is two, he meets Red. When he is twelve, he becomes Kanto's Champion ... for about twenty minutes. When he is eighteen, he runs away.
Relationships: Ookido Green | Blue Oak/Original Character(s), Ookido Green | Blue Oak/Red
Comments: 19
Kudos: 250





	Getaway Green

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! A few things before we get started:  
> this is not really my idea what happened in canon over the years, but it is an idea I had, so let's say this is an AU of some sort.  
> I use Green for our boy in this story, but the English/American names for everyone else.  
> If you like Professor Oak a lot, maybe don't read this.  
> There is no graphic child abuse, but it is clear that Professor Oak is both neglective of Green and emotionally harming. If you have a hard time with that, proceed with caution.  
> I hope you'll enjoy.

When Green is two, he meets Red. He doesn’t remember much, but he does remember his mother telling him that Red doesn’t like speaking, and he’s sensitive to loud noises. And that no-one wants to befriend him. So Green decides to do what no-one does and become his friend. Red is fine. He likes Pokémon. He likes playing with Green’s mommy’s Flareon and Jolteon, Scarlet and Sparky, and he doesn’t complain when he gets shocked by Sparky’s fur. Green starts learning Red’s language so he can understand Red. It’s a language spoken with hands and gestures, and his parents are proud of him and the progress he made. They say that, because he is learning it so young, he’ll be a natural growing up.

When Green is four, he gets teased for his looks the first time. His orange hair and the freckles dusting his nose, no-one really cares about. It’s his eyes. They’re not the same. His right eye is hazel like his mommy’s, his left is almost entirely green save for a little spot of hazel at the top. Green can’t change his eye color. He knows. He asked. Red throws sand in the face of the kids that teased Green. Red gets in trouble, but Green sneaks him candy while he’s grounded.

When Green is five, his parents don’t come back from their research trip and they will never ever come home. Green is still too little to understand life and death, but he understands what Daisy tells him. Daisy is ten. She knows what it means. All Green knows is that mommy and daddy are gone. He doesn’t understand how or why. He still cries and screams and sobs. He and Daisy are sent to their only living relative, their grandfather. A man they barely know. Gramps doesn’t want to spend time with them. Green sits by the window and hopes that maybe, his parents will be back after all.

When Green is six, Red talks to him for the first time ever. He doesn’t say much, but it makes Green smile. He hasn’t smiled since he lost his parents. Red still prefers to use sign language, but sometimes, he will speak a few quiet, timid words to Green. It always cheers Green up.

When Green is eight, he has risen to one of the best in his grade in school. He studies hard and works harder in hopes that his grandfather will finally tell him he did well. He gets an A in Pokémon Introduction. So does Red. Gramps’ eyes sparkle when he sees it. He ignores Green’s achievements. Green still works hard. But it’s never enough, no matter what he does. He’s always in Red’s shadow.

When Green is nine, he and Red meet a new friend. Her name is Leaf and she reminds Green of Daisy, just a little rougher around the edges. She travels a lot with her parents, so she won’t stay in their school for long. She will start her Pokémon journey in another region. Hoenn, she said.

When Green is ten, he tells Red about his plan to start his Pokémon journey in a year, and to become Champion. Red doesn’t understand why he wants to become Champion. He wants to see the world and find out what lurks in the tall grass. Green doesn’t explain. He does tell Red that he wants his starter to be Charmander. Red says he doesn’t care.

When Green is two weeks shy of turning eleven, he has grown sick of hearing his grandfather tell him to be more like Red. He hears it all the time, no matter what he does. He plays with the thought of just starting his journey on his eleventh birthday, but he did promise Red to wait for him. He doesn’t want to break his promise. He doesn’t want to be angry at Red.

When Green is eleven, Red takes Charmander. Green isn’t angry or disappointed. He is hurt and it’s so much worse. He wanted a Charmander because of his father’s Charizard – his loyal Pokémon Luke that he had taken Green on flights on, his beautiful partner that wasted away after his trainer’s death. Green chooses Squirtle instead, to at least have some advantage over Red. He wins their first battle and leaves a confused Red in the dust. Green doesn’t want to travel with him anymore. He names the Squirtle Blue after his dad’s favorite color.

Green catches his first Pokémon by himself. It’s a Pidgey. It’s not strong just yet, but it sits down on Green’s shoulder and grooms his carefully disheveled hair. It has warm and determined eyes. And it might not be strong, but it’s fast, and it’s small, and it can fly. Green keeps it on his Team and he names him Soren. It was his father’s name.

He catches a Rattatta next. He can’t bring himself to leave her in a PC Box when she looks at him with curious eyes and snuffles at his hands. He is surprised by how trusting she is. She is friendly to him and to his other two buddies. He keeps her on the Team and she cuddles into his arms, making little cooing sounds at him. He names her after these noises that sound a little bit like “Ro.” So he calls her Ro.

Daisy gives him an egg. Scarlet and Sparky had an egg together. Green takes it and cradles it that evening. His other Pokémon are curiously snuffling at it. Green loves the egg. It’s a child from his mom’s Pokémon. It doesn’t take long for it to hatch. The little Eevee is clingy and she loves wrapping around his neck like a little scarf. She is just a baby, so he doesn’t add her to his battle Team. Soren evolves into Pidgeotto and Green believes it’s to protect her. He looks into her happily sparkling eyes as she sits on his lap and he calls her Eva. It was his mother’s name.

His next catch is an Abra. He yells in celebration when the Pokéball glows. The Abra is shy and fearful, and she doesn’t have any attacks yet, but Green keeps her on the Team anyway. He knows what Abra will evolve into one day, and he knows she will be powerful. She opens up to them and Green loves her elegance. She’s smart, too, and she likes carrying Ro while she floats around. Green names her Queenie because she is a little queen to him. She likes the name.

His Pokémon evolve further. Ro, Queenie, and Blue. Eva stays the same. Green enlists Queenie’s help to find out whether she even wants to evolve. She doesn’t. She likes being small and being able to fit around Green’s neck. Green fights further and keeps Eva out of battles. He trains with her, but she is too friendly to fight in serious battles. He doesn’t want to force her to be vicious.

He encounters a Growlithe and decides to catch it for his Team. She is fluffy and quick and when she opens her mouth and lets her tongue loll out, she looks as if she’s smiling at Green. She seems friendly, but she’s only friendly to her Team. She growls and snaps at other trainers who try to pet her. She only shows patience for small children. Green names her Tani. He likes cuddling into her soft fur, and loves how she melts only around him.

He decides to catch the Exeggcute he finds soon after, and he laughs a little. He always thought it was a ridiculous Pokémon and he still does, but he likes it all the same. He … they? Green doesn’t know how that works with Exeggcutes, so he refers to them as several. He names them all Eggsy which is what his mom used to call all Exeggcutes. They’re a strange Pokémon. They’re also angry a lot which is immensely funny to Green, and he loves them.

Ro dies. Green is out in the tall grass, wanting to return to the Pokécenter to give his Team a rest and stock up on potions after another lost battle to Red. A huge Beedrill attacks him. Green runs. An exhausted Ro jumps out of her Pokéball to protect him. The Beedrill flees from the vicious Raticate, but not before wounding her deeply and poisoning her. Green doesn’t have any potions left. He rushes her to the Pokécenter, disregarding anything in his path. He’s too late. She grows cold in his arms as the Sister Joy consoles him. Green buries her in the Tower of Lavender Town. Her Pokéball was broken in the scuffle. He keeps one half for himself and puts the other one on her grave. Green doesn’t even care that he loses to Red when they battle – again. He hasn’t won since their first battle.

Green doesn’t catch anyone for his Team in a while. He catches Pokémon for his Dex, he battles them. He’s always one step ahead of Red. He still doesn’t win. Red dismantles Team Rocket on his own. Green avoids his grandfather. He finally catches a new member. He has been watching a group of Rhyhorn for a little while. One of them stuck out, a female one who doesn’t take any shit and stands her ground. Green starts getting closer to her until she demands a battle from him. He wins and catches her. He names her Roxy. She’s a lady, he thinks, and a little bit named after his lost beloved Ro.

When Green is twelve, he blazes through the Elite Four of the Indigo Plateau, and finally becomes Champion … for about twenty minutes. Red follows closely behind and defeats him. It was a close battle. But Green still lost. Gramps says he doesn’t deserve to go into the Hall of Fame. Red should be the first Champion. He wasn’t, though. Gramps says Green doesn’t care about his Pokémon enough and Green is close to tears. He has done nothing but care. He lost his Ro. Is it just because he didn’t train every single Pokémon he ever caught? For building a strong Team? He loves them all, and they love him. He doesn’t know what Gramps wants from him.

Green avoids Red. He doesn’t want to deal with him, or anyone. He and his Team are licking their wounds. Agatha told him that the League would put him in the Hall of Fame as soon as his grandfather stopped breathing down their necks, but it still hurts Green to know how against this Gramps is. She says his name with so much disdain that it makes Green smile a little. Red confronts him a little while later. He is angry. Accuses Green of leaving him behind on their journey and avoiding him for no reason. Green blows up at him. He knows Red hates loud noises, and he hates yelling. But Green can’t help it. He is so angry, he is furious, and all of it comes to this. So he yells at Red for having his grandfather’s love, for having the title Red never wanted but Green wanted all the more. He yells at him to leave him the fuck alone. Red looks like he is about to cry. His Pikachu growls and sparks, but Eva hisses at them both, dares them to come after them as Green leaves them behind.

When Green is twelve and a half, Blue gets sick. Really sick. The Sister Joys aren’t enough. An actual Pokémon doctor comes over. The people use a lot of complicated words that Green doesn’t understand. But he does understand that there is no cure and Blue will not recover. The sickness is not contagious, so Green and his Team stay with Blue as he grows weaker and weaker. One morning, Green wakes up and Blue doesn’t. He gets a grave next to Ro’s. Green is twelve and two of his Pokémon are dead. Gramps doesn’t comfort him. Green cries alone in his room and Eva tries her best to dry his tears.

When Green is thirteen, Red disappears. Green hasn’t spoken to him since the debacle at the League. At first, Green isn’t too worried. Red has left before to explore a little. But he didn’t leave behind a note, and he didn’t tell his mother. His mother cries when Green tells her he knows nothing. Leaf, who is now in Sinnoh and still keeping contact, promises to keep her eyes open. Green is looking as well. Gramps is out of his mind with worry. His disappointment grows each day when Green doesn’t have answers.

Daisy moves out. Green catches a Gyarados to fill up his Team again. He won’t ever be able to replace Blue. But the Gyarados is strong and proud, and he becomes close friends with Roxy. Green soon notices that he is smaller than most other Gyarados but that makes the other trainers underestimate his power. Green names him Tiny. He is small and if people don’t want to see him as a threat, they’ll be sorry. All of them will be.

Lance offers Green the spot as the Viridian City Gym Leader. Green is unsure if it’s a good idea. He is thirteen. Can he deal with the responsibilities? Does he want to? But then Gramps makes some snide remark and Green would do anything to get out of the house. So he accepts and he moves into his own apartment. It’s way too early. Everyone knows that. Lance takes it upon himself to check on Green, make sure he still manages to juggle school work and his work as the new Gym Leader. Viridian City Gym becomes the last stop before the League. He’s too young to be Elite Four, but he is unofficially an honorary member. He grows stronger.

He gets a Machamp through trading. The trainer thought he was too nice and wanted something scarier. A fearow, of all things. Green still has one of those, so he gives it away. The Machamp’s nickname is Abs and Green finds that funny enough that he doesn’t mind keeping it. Abs is strong. He just needs a trainer who knows what they are doing and what they want their Pokémon to do. Abs doesn’t like uncertainty. Green can respect that.

When Green is fourteen, Lance gifts him a recently revived fossil Pokémon. An Aerodactyl. She’s young and playful and Soren takes her under his wing. She doesn’t know how to fly yet. She likes picking up flowers and bringing them to Green. Green would have kept her out of the fighting Team like Eva had she not violently shaken her head at the suggestion. She’s ambitious and throws herself into training. He decides to name her Violet after the flowers she brings him.

Leaf comes back from her travels for a short time. She gives him an egg. It’s a Larvitar and Green loves the little thing. He names him Leviathan. Leviathan wants to battle and wants to grow quickly. Green does his best to teach him patience and mercy, knowing how aggressive Tyranitar can grow. Leviathan listens to him and luckily starts hanging out with Tiny who manages to calm him down. Leviathan evolves quicker than any of Green’s Pokémon, wanting to grow strong as quickly as possible.

When Green is fifteen, he almost punches someone in the face. He agrees to trade a Rhydon for Roxy and get her back afterwards immediately because she wants to evolve into Rhyperior. The other trainer doesn’t want to give her back because she’s stronger – of course she is. She is his tough girl, after all. Green is ready to make the sky crash down upon them. He gets her back, but he is pissed off for the entire day. The day gets worse when he meets Ethan. Ethan is a kid from Johto, a rising star who went through his Gyms and now Kanto’s Gyms. He’s incredible. He reminds Green of Red. That is, until he opens his mouth and chatters away. He’s loud and brash and annoying. He reminds Green of himself, as well. Ethan wins their battle. It’s close, but he wins. And Green hasn’t seen such fire in a trainer in a long time. He thinks it’s the last he sees of him.

It’s not. Ethan comes back to annoy him. At first, Green is irritated by his constant chatter. Then, he grows fond of him. Ethan brings over friends sometimes. Silver, the son of Team Rocket’s leader. Kris and Lyra, two fiery girls who have been winning other regions over. They’re good company, even though they are younger than him. And then, Ethan drops that he found some crazy strong trainer up on Mount Silver. A guy in a red cap with an unevolved Pikachu on his Team.

When Green is sixteen, he storms up Mount Silver with a complete disregard for his safety, and finds Red after three years. He is two moments away from punching him in the face. He is so incredibly furious. But he keeps it in. It wouldn’t help anything. Red has his reasons and he will believe they were good reasons. He calms down and apologizes for yelling at him back then. He does not apologize for interrupting Red’s silence. He tells him to call his mother. He doesn’t tell anyone else he’s up there.

When Green is seventeen, he tries juggling school work, Gym work, and visiting Red up on Mount Silver. Red refuses to come down. Green grows miserable. He sees Red’s mother’s disappointment and sadness. She lives in an empty house. If he ever comes down, he will be all grown up. He won’t be the little boy she remembers. She lost her son and will only get back a stranger. Gramps is getting worse with his words. He makes no secret out of wishing Green would finally find Red so he doesn’t have to deal with Green anymore. Gramps doesn’t care for his grades or his success as a Gym Leader. Even when he succeeds, he is a failure to the old man. Green is sick, sick, sick of it! Even when Red is dead to the world, he still manages to overshadow Green.

When Green is eighteen, Red grates on his nerves. Green doesn’t know what happened, where their conversation went, but Red says something, maybe about his graduation, maybe about his future, and he’s suddenly up in Red’s business and hissing at him. He’s trying his best, he says, he’s doing everything he can down there and it is still not enough. Green’s rage peaks when Red stares at him stoically as if he couldn’t give less of a shit. And Green has always been one to get teary when he’s frustrated. He hates this, that his anger is so often times wet with cracking words and welled up eyes. He goes home without reconciling with Red, and in his small apartment, the people on TV talk about Professor Oak and Red again. Green yells and he screams and he tears at his hair and drops to his knees and just wants to punch something. He’s eighteen and he never learnt how to deal with what he feels.

He gets drunk on a bottle of whiskey that Kris gave him for his eighteenth birthday. He doesn’t know where she got it from, she’s, like, twelve (fifteen but what’s the difference). And Green gets drunk and he keeps his Pokémon in their balls. He doesn’t want them to see him like this. He gets drunk and he smashes a plate and starts crying. He sits there on the floor in a pile of shards, with a bloodied hand where he cut himself on the broken plate, and tears streaming down his face. He’s pathetic but he can’t bring himself to feel shame. He’s eighteen years old and he hasn’t had a parental figure tell him they loved him since he was five. And now, he’s done with school, graduating top of his class, and he is still not worthy of keeping his grandfather’s attention for more than a second.

The next day, Green accepts an invitation that has been sitting in his E-Mails for weeks now. A scholarship at Lumiose University all the way in Kalos. An invitation to research the newly proposed fairy type and some new type of evolution item. Green tells Lance to find a replacement for him at the Gym, packs his things, and leaves. It’s a knee-jerk reaction, a bad one for sure, but Green never learnt how to deal. He tells no-one where he is going. No-one even knows that he _is_ leaving. No-one knows he got this scholarship. It’s not like he didn’t try. But his friends didn’t want to listen to his “nerd stuff”, Daisy was busy or didn’t listen, and Gramps … Gramps snapped at him if he even tried to talk about himself at the dinner table. Whatever. They won’t miss him, so why not just get going? He is half-tempted to give out Red’s location, but he stops himself. That would be unnecessarily cruel. Red doesn’t deserve that. Green just has to find himself.

Green lands in Lumiose City and he meets a few people from the university who have taken it upon themselves to take care of him and show him around. Kalos is open about everything, and it is large. So much larger than anything back in Kanto. Green is overwhelmed and a little in love with this place. He doesn’t have a perfect grasp on the language just yet, but he’s making progress. He’s always been good at languages. He still has a little bit of time before the new semester starts, so he has enough time to choose a major. He chooses Pokémon Evolution. He meets with Professor Sycamore. He’s eccentric, but he is nice.

Two weeks after leaving, Green gets a message on his PokéGear. It’s from Daisy. She asks whether he can help her babysit some Pokémon. He doesn’t reply. Another week later, Daisy and Ethan ask where he is. Green feels guilty for just a moment, then remembers it has been three weeks. He checks in once every two days with his sister. They should have noticed something. He gets rid of his PokéGear and buys a new fancy phone. He changes his number. Eva, from her almost permanent spot on his shoulder, nuzzles his face to comfort him. He shakes his thoughts off. He came here to find himself, not to think about bad old times.

So Green starts his studies. He finds new friends, meets new Pokémon, and helps the Professor. He gets praised for his ideas and his thoughts, and people seek him out to listen to him and see his Pokémon. He battles, still. He battles with other trainers at the university, and makes plans for bigger things once he’s on break, like the Battle Maison or something. He starts laughing more. And for the first time in a while, he battles for the heck of it. Not to get stronger or to test someone out. Just because he wants to, because his Team wants to show off. He rotates the Pokémon on his party to give every one of them a chance to fight every day. People don’t think it’s weird that he has ten Pokémon when he can only have six of them on his party at a time.

His research with the Professor starts soon. The fairy type has been proposed. It has been discovered that there is a niche in the normal type that is just too different to be part of it. But now it needs to be decided which Pokémon belong to that type, and what it means. And furthermore, rocks have been discovered that seem to resonate to specific Pokémon. What they mean, they don’t yet know. But they will find out.

Being surrounded by open people who have no qualms about open affection, Green is soon confronted with something he pushed down and ignored. His sexuality. And he doesn’t just mean the fact that he’s still a virgin at eighteen – which is not really true, he did get blown a few times, but he had heard enough people say that didn’t “count”. There is still the fact that sometimes, when he looks at guys, his gaze will linger too long. He will notice too many details – the shape of their eyebrows and their lips, the cut of their jaws, the look in their eyes. He follows their figures on the streets. He wonders what their hands would feel like. He finds out about so many different sexualities and identities that would make some of the Kanto people’s heads explode. Green tries to grasp it all. It’s not shameful, this desire of his. It’s not even just a desire, but real attraction. To men. And women.

He tells his friends at uni. They’re supportive without a second thought. They help him figure out that he’s bisexual. He likes the label. He decides against immediately looking for a male partner. He doesn’t go on dates much anyway, so he’d rather slowly get into it. He keeps his focus on his studies first.

Once he’s ready, he is surprised by how easy it is to get someone to date him. He’s apparently more desirable than he was lead to believe. It’s difficult not to let it get to his head. He’s with a girl for a while, a loud and cheerful person who never seems to think anything bad of people. She is funny and she likes listening to what he says. She even enjoys his cynicism and his sarcasm. She doesn’t ask about his family back home, understanding it’s a sensitive topic. If anyone was worried about Green Oak back in Kanto, the news hadn’t reached Kalos.

There are nights when Green can’t sleep from the guilt eating away inside of him. He left everyone and everything behind and never told them. People loved to call him selfish and egotistical, but this was a whole new level, even for him. But then, Eva will cuddle into his arms, nuzzle his cheek, and mewl at him. Her eyes will look almost stern, as if she dares him to feel bad about his choice. And that is the worst part, the part that makes him feel the guiltiest. He doesn’t regret it.

He doesn’t stay with his girlfriend forever. They had good times while they lasted. But it grows strained and she says they can’t keep going on like this. She says she feels like he refuses to open up to her – and she is right. He doesn’t want to open up. He won’t, he can’t. He agrees that she deserves better than that – she is a wonderful person, after all. So they go their separate ways, and Green wonders why it is so hard to trust.

When Green is nineteen, he meets a Sylveon for the first time. The fairy type has been widely accepted by most, but it is not yet official. Green researches together with the Sylveon to see what differs. Some people say that if you stretched it real far, you could sort it into a bug type, but Green refuses to accept that. The Sylveon is much too cute, much too beautiful and elegant to be a bug type. His moves don’t match the bug type, either, instead using a new type of power much more similar to what the psychic, ghost, and dark types use. There is something complicated about the way it evolves, his trainer tells Green. Green loves the Sylveon. Deep inside, he knows that his younger self would have disregarded it.

They – Professor Sycamore and he – have a breakthrough with the research on the weird stones. They can cause, if used by a trainer and Pokémon that have a strong bond, a temporary further evolution. Green finds this out on accident by dicking around with the stones and giving one to Soren that seems to fit his color coordination and was said to resonate with Pidgeot. He had one of the rainbow colored stones on him – these didn’t seem to resonate with any Pokémon at all – and suddenly, after a little bit of training, Soren turned into an even more colorful thing with greater power and stamina. Professor Sycamore calls it Mega Evolution. Green knows it could be a great thing in battle, but they don’t know enough about it yet to put it out there for people to see. All Green knows is that after Soren turned back to normal, they were both exhausted. It seems to take some type of mental toll on both trainer and Pokémon, and that is something Green could live without right now.

Green decides to go on dates again. He lets his friends set him up. Some of the people are nice, but they don’t click. Others … well. They seem to always find something about him that they don’t like. How much gel he uses in his hair – none at all, by the way, this logic defying hairstyle is brought to you via salt water spray and a lot of determination. How much he talks about his research which apparently makes him a nerd. Green can live with that. He likes his research. How much he talks about battling. Green walks out on these dates. He’s not sorry. There are many, too many, who comment on his eyes. Say his eyes are weird, strange, unsettling. Some girl calls them creepy and then demands to know why he doesn’t want a second date. He turns more to going out to clubs and bars to hook-up with people. They don’t ask questions, and there are no attachments.

When Green is twenty, he decides to go on a date with a man for the first time. There is this cute guy who is a regular at the café where Green buys his Pokémon PokéPuffs. They talk often, and Green loves the feeling he gets around him. So when he is asked out, he says yes. They go on a walk and eat ice cream and talk about their majors. His date listens and offers his own input and asks questions. He says Green’s eyes are wild but in a good way. It’s the first time a comment about his eyes doesn’t sound like an insult. Green falls into bed with him the same night. He is young, has low standards, and is horny, alright? His date is surprisingly attentive once he finds out Green has never slept with a man. Green doesn’t have time to feel embarrassed about any of his reactions.

His date stays the next morning, makes him coffee, and takes him out for breakfast. At the end of the day, Green has a boyfriend and is walking on air. Now more than ever, he cannot regret coming here. He doesn’t remember ever feeling so free. It translates into his Pokémon battles, as well, leaving behind his stoic, angry style for a more playful one. He is still serious about it, and he still wins. He feels really fucking good about himself.

Green goes to his first Pride Parade. He understands that even in Kalos, people like him didn’t always have it easy. And thus, each year, they celebrate their accomplishments and their unity. Green wears short shorts and a crop top with a rainbow colored Eevee on it that says “Be who you want to be”. He wears a bisexual pride flag like a cape. Eva rides on his shoulders, and his boyfriend holds his hand. He feels free, the fear of going out dressed like this falling off. He kisses his boyfriend under a roof of flags and colors.

When Green is twenty-one, he hears about a group of trainers in the region who are looking for someone specific. He doesn’t get his hopes up. It’s probably another search group for Red. He ignores all of his emotions about it and focuses on his studies. His thesis is not going to write itself. But when he can’t lie to himself anymore, he sits in bed and tears at his hair. He doesn’t want to call his boyfriend about it – he only knows bits and pieces, after all. His Pokémon are asleep and he doesn’t want to wake them with his inane problems.

It doesn’t stop Eva, though, who comes to cuddle with him again. She looks up at him and makes big eyes, and Green snorts. She recently learned a new move, Baby Doll Eyes, one newly classified as fairy type, and keeps using it in hopes of getting more treats. Sometimes, she uses it to make Green smile. And he does smile at her, hugs her close, and tells her he loves her. She mewls in return. A ribbon wraps around his wrist. Green startles and watches as Eva changes in his lap. She grows, and she changes, and she evolves into Sylveon. The first thing she does is wipe at Green’s face with her feelers and a concerned look in her light blue eyes, as if she is trying to wipe away tears that aren’t there yet. He cuddles her closer, buries his face in her soft fur, and falls asleep like that.

He wakes up in the middle of the night like from a fever dream with a realization, and scribbles it down like a man possessed, still cradling Eva in his arms. He kisses her forehead and she purrs. He looks through the similarities his Eva has with the other tested Eevee. He understands now. The problem that all the trainers had trying to evolve their Eevee into Sylveon and instead getting Umbreon or Espeon. They understood that there had to be a deep bond between trainer and Pokémon, but it had to be more than friendship. Green’s bond with all of his Pokémon goes deeper than just friendship, but Eva is different. He raised her from an egg, kept her out of battle for the most part, and let her be a pet, essentially. This way, he built a different bond with her than his fighting Pokémon. Even Leviathan who has also been with him since he hatched. And from the past failed and successful Sylveon evolutions and what he had seen today, he is fairly sure that the moves an Eevee knows when evolving are not to be dismissed. Green settles down at four a.m. with Eva curled around his head as always when he goes back to bed. He can’t wait to tell the Professor of his discovery.

When Green is twenty-one and three quarters, he graduates uni with flying colors. He wrote his thesis on the evolutions of Eevee, specifically Sylveon. He is praised for finding out the secret of their evolution, and Green has to hide tears when Professor Sycamore speaks out his pride at his graduation party. Eva still rides on Green’s shoulders, staying wrapped around his neck as best as she can. She likes being a Sylveon. Green is glad she doesn’t regret her decision to evolve.

Professor Sycamore is almost ready to share his knowledge of Mega Evolution with the world. Green is proud of what they accomplished. He’ll spend the next few months assisting the Professor and then … he doesn’t know yet. But he’s not too worried. He doesn’t have to know. Maybe some new research will arise. Maybe he’ll find a job. Maybe he’ll try battling at the Gyms for a change. Nothing is set in stone yet.

When Green is twenty-two, his boyfriend breaks up with him. Green is bummed out but not heartbroken. They had started growing apart. Three days later, Green wants a change. He gets his ears pierced. He still hasn’t gotten over his habit of knee-jerk ideas, but he has been able to scale them down. He decides against looking for a new date, and instead focuses on his work in the lab. He still has a few hook-ups on the side, though. Professor Sycamore publishes their work, and Green sits back and relaxes as Mega Evolution is pulled into Pokémon battles. Their faces are all over the news, and Green knows it’s time.

He leaves Lumiose City to travel around Kalos again. He wants to enjoy his time here until his past catches up with him. He explores, he catches Pokémon, he fights in battles. He learns as many recipes for PokéPuffs as possible, wanting to be able to make them for his Team when they come back home. He might have spoiled them too much. As the weather grows colder, Eva curls tighter around his neck to warm him.

He’s somewhere in the mountains when they finally catch up to him. They being Kris and Lyra. They are furious with him and he understands, but he also doesn’t particularly care. They pressure him to come back to Kanto. For a while, Green out right refuses. He wants to finish his little journey in peace. He gets his wish, even if they tag along. They are still mad. Green won’t ask for forgiveness. He musters all the cockiness and arrogance he used to have, and tells himself he is too proud and has too much self-respect to ask for a thing he doesn’t want or need. He hasn’t become less of an asshole since he got here, he is aware of that. But he is happy and he likes being happy.

When Green is twenty-two and five months, he returns to Kanto. The world shrinks down to small towns and empty roads, and Green feels terribly out of place. Even the airport that Green used to think was busy seems like nothing. Green is wearing sweats decorated with little Fennekin and a shirt that says “Getting Bi” – a joke gift from someone at uni – and people are staring at him for more reasons than being Green Oak who just appeared out of nowhere. He lets Eva out of her ball and she settles around his neck, wrapping her feelers around his arms. It’s comforting.

Surprisingly, Lyra and Kris make him stop at the League first. Lance is relieved to see him again. The organizers are furious with him, but what else is new? He can’t have the Gym back, they tell him. That is great, he returns, he doesn’t want it back. He finds out Ethan is the new Gym Leader and doing a good job. Green is unfazed. If they wanted a reaction out of him, they won’t get it.

Green doesn’t have a home here, but he doesn’t need one. He still has his camping gear with him, so he is already making plans to camp out once he ditches other people. Kanto feels oppressing. He hopes getting away from the towns will change the feeling.

Lyra and Kris bring him to Daisy’s place. Ethan is there. So is Silver, and so is Leaf. Gramps isn’t there, but Green isn’t surprised. Daisy yells at him when he steps through the door. Green focuses on Eva’s comforting coos and holds onto his composure. He’s been gone for four years, and no-one knew where he was. He could have been dead, and they wouldn’t know, she yells. Green still cannot feel bad about it. So when she finally asks why he did it, he replies. He says that he had to get away from everyone and he had to be alone. He had to learn without the others, and he had to be able to do what he wanted to do without people laughing at or criticizing or ignoring him. He tells her he won’t beg for forgiveness. He tells her he will leave Kanto as soon as he is able. He tells her he found the self-value he lacked and is done trying to make people proud. She looks hurt by his words. He feels bad about it. But he refuses to fall back into a routine he hated in a life he hated.

Before anyone can say anything – and he can already hear the disappointed words – the door slams open and in walks a man that Green has to take a double take for. Because it can’t be. But it is. Different clothes now, sure, and a more matured body, but the same dark brown hair sticking out under a red cap, the same serious, gray-brown eyes. It’s Red. Red came down from his mountain.

Red doesn’t speak with words, but he speaks with signs, and though he can’t hear him, Green can see the anger on his face and in his gestures. The world is closing in on Green again with angry stares and fury in the air and everyone is so angry in this place, he can’t deal with it anymore. So Green snaps. He is about to storm out of the house, but he turns back one more time. He looks at his sister and says he doesn’t know how to fix this because he doesn’t know how to feel bad about it.

The next day, he crawls out of his tent in Viridian Forest, and sees Red waiting, sitting on a rock. Green doesn’t even ask how he found him. He lets his Pokémon play, and tells Soren to distract Eva. He can already see how her fur is bristling. He sits down next to Red. They stay silent for a short moment. Green offers him a cereal bar. He takes it, and signs his thanks. None of Red’s Pokémon are out, but his Pokéballs are on his belt. Then, Red speaks. He asks what happened. His voice is deep and runs like a shockwave down Green’s back.

Green found love and people who appreciate him, he explains. When Red protests, he points out how Red was never once happy with Green coming to see him. Red’s eyes widen and he shakes his head. He liked having Green around, he just couldn’t show it. He was worried when Green didn’t return. Scared he lost his friend. He came back from the mountain a year ago and he found out Green had been missing for three. He asks why Green did it. Green asks why he did.

Green tells him that he gets why Red had to leave and tell nobody about it. And now he needs Red to understand why Green did it. He didn’t need the isolation. Maybe it was Green’s own fault for feeling out of place since he surrounded himself with people with an age gap that didn’t matter later, but was a huge difference in teenage years. He needed people to see him. Really see him. And nobody here in Kanto did that. Not his friends, not his sister, not his grandfather. Not Red.

Red asks what Green likes so much about Kalos. Green tells him that all his life, he had been in someone’s shadow. In Red’s, in his grandfather’s. But over there, he wasn’t just Professor Oak’s grandson anymore. He wasn’t even the failed Champion of Kanto. They see him as a respected researcher and expert when it comes to fairy types. Red smiles and asks him to tell him about the type.

Green loses himself in his chatter. He could talk ages about fairy Pokémon. He talks about Eva’s evolution. He talks about his thesis and his studies, how he figured out the big secret of evolving a Sylveon. He then speaks about Professor Sycamore and the Mega Evolution and then about Kalos and the people and the food. Red listens to him and he smiles.

Red tells him he understands him. Why he ran away. But he also explains the reason why he was mad the day before. He has been worried about Green, and then Green returns and is fine, and everything Red felt crashed down. Green gets it, he does. He felt the same way when he found Red. But now he also understands why Red didn’t want to come down the mountain. A tentative bond builds between them, a bond of just knowing. They share this experience.

Green agrees to meet with Daisy two days later. They choose a café. The coffee and the pastries aren’t like the ones in Kalos, but they’re still good and Green still eats them. Eva doesn’t. She’s too spoiled. They meet there so Green won’t feel like a caged animal in Daisy’s house, and Daisy won’t feel like he’ll run away into the woods. The conversation between them is stilted, like two strangers rather than siblings. Green tells her about the same as he told Red. She tries to understand, but she tells him it’s hard. She is so very hurt by Green never telling her why he left. And Green tells her he isn’t sorry for leaving, but he is sorry for hurting her. Then, she surprises him by taking his hand and telling him how proud of him she is. It hits him in the chest and he hugs her tightly once they’re outside. They make plans to meet up more, to talk, and to work through everything. Green decides not to leave for Kalos at the end of the week and instead stay for a while. Out of everyone Green left behind, Daisy is the one he owes it to the most.

Ethan asks him cautiously to come by the Gym. Green agrees, much to Ethan’s surprise. Green used to like being a Gym Leader until everything fell down on him. He still looks back on the first months with fond memories when he single handedly raised the reputation of Viridian City Gym from the ashes. He watches Ethan in the Gym and smiles. Ethan seems to be in his element here, and he seems happy. Ethan tells him that he only recently took up the role as Gym Leader and before that, it were retired Elite Four members. Lance has decided not to put kids in the roles of Gym Leaders anymore, so Ethan had to wait until he was eighteen. Green likes how the Gym has changed a little.

He watches Ethan take on the challengers. None of them wins. Ethan consoles them and gives them tips on how to be better. Later, he and Ethan talk in Ethan’s apartment that used to be Green’s. Ethan apologizes for making Green feel that they, his friends, didn’t care. He looks so distraught that Green hugs him. He even agrees to meet up with his old friends – Ethan, Lyra, Kris, and Silver – to hang out and to talk things through. They are older now, and it really sucked not to have Green there, Ethan says.

That night, sitting in his tent, Green cries and holds Eva in his arms. He cannot believe how well it’s going. He didn’t think they would be so ready to compromise. But they are, and Green feels a tiny little bit at home again. Not enough not to be longing for Kalos, but enough to take the weird feeling of detachment away. He didn’t know how much they really meant to him.

The next day, Red asks if he can camp out with Green. Red tells him he can’t sleep in his mom’s house but didn’t have the gall to camp. Green is skeptic at first but he agrees. He’s unsure whether it’s a good idea since their friendship is still fragile – if you could even call it that. But it turns out that it’s actually really nice. Green knows it’s not a solution forever for either of them, but for now this will have to do.

Green misses the comforts of an apartment like running water and showers and a kitchen and an actual bed. But everything here in Kanto feels imprisoning. Red and he have their different reasons for camping out, but both of them do it for a sense of freedom. Just a different definition of freedom.

Leaf asks him to hang out a few days later. They go shopping together, grab a bite to eat, and talk. It feels like old times and Green feels the least awkward with her. She tells him that she was worried but she gets him. She also says that she wants to travel again and asks what she should check out in Kalos. So he tells her all about it, and tells her to visit Professor Sycamore. He’ll put in a good word for her so maybe he’ll give her Mega Stones for her Pokémon. Before they part for the day, she tells him that not everything is fixed and to be committed to fixing it because it will take a while. Green nods and swears to her not to leave before everything is resolved.

Red tries poking a stick through Green’s new loop earrings that he bought while out with Leaf. Green waves him off with a laugh and knocks the cap from his head. Red sticks his tongue out at him and he does it right back. They’re mature adults, after all.

When Green is twenty-two and six months, he meets Gramps after four weeks of avoiding and avoiding and avoiding. Green dreaded this meeting, and he stays right about it. Gramps is cold and his eyes narrow when they focus on Green. Green is only ever his focus when he did something wrong in Gramps’ eyes. Gramps scolds him for leaving. Says that even if he tries to do everything Red did, he would never live up to the living legend. Green grits his teeth and clenches his fists. Gramps looks down his nose on Green’s research. Like it was some child’s game. That Green shouldn’t be so full of himself and say Sylveon only evolved when an Eevee was exceptionally affectionate towards their trainer. He says Green’s Pokémon could never feel affection towards him.

Eva leaps from Green’s shoulder, fur bristled and claws out and teeth bared. She snarls and hisses, and Green doesn’t call her back. She attacks Professor Oak with a move that Green had never seen her use before – Moonblast – and throws him off his feet. She ducks threateningly, placing herself in front of Green as if she could hide him. Green calls her name and she immediately leaps into his arms, curling her feelers around him and keeping her eyes on the Professor as he gets to his feet.

Green starts speaking, then. His words are quiet at first, then grow in volume and rage. He talks about everything that has gone wrong between them. The Professor’s neglect, his preference towards Red, his ability to find things that Green did wrong just to tear him down. The misbalance between praise and punishment. But Green doesn’t need his approval anymore. He doesn’t need his praise, he doesn’t need his pride. He doesn’t need to chase the love of a man who will never give it to him. Green tells him that some relationships are not worth the trouble. He turns around and leaves, and even though he has waited years to tell him this, Green doesn’t feel accomplished.

When he returns to the campsite, Red is already there and curiously looks at him. Green turns away and holds onto Eva a little while longer to calm himself before he sets her down. It doesn’t work. He’s keyed up and he is _mad_. Red is cautious when he approached him, and he speaks quietly, carefully. He can probably see how Green is feeling from the tension in his shoulders. Green should appreciate Red’s worry, but by Arceus, he is so enraged that it turns him resentful. Red never asked for it, but he has the Professor’s love. He has everything Green ever wanted.

So Green snaps and he claws and he defends himself like a small, wounded thing chased into a corner. He’s all sharp remarks that are just this side of being below the belt enough not to be sarcastic. Green knows he’s being unfair, good grief does he know. And he knows he will regret this come morning, when Red is gone again and will not forgive him this time around.

But Red doesn’t leave. He doesn’t just stoically stand there and take it. He steps up to him, grabs his wrist, and pulls Green into a hug. Green doesn’t even pretend to struggle. He just melts. And then he screams into Red’s shoulder, and Red puts a hand on the back of his head and tries to hold him closer.

Red doesn’t leave him alone that night, and instead decides to stay with him in his tent. He pulls his sleeping bag up close to Green’s like back in the day when they were kids and things were easier. He goes outside only for a moment to heat up some water to make Green his favorite tea that he still drinks while out here, and hands Green the cup before setting Eva down on his lap.

Once they’re lying down and getting ready to sleep, Red finally asks what happened. So Green tells him. And Red frowns and asks what Green wants to do now. All Green can do is shrug. He honestly doesn’t know. All he knows is that his relationship to his grandfather is too broken to fix, and Green doesn’t have the will to suffer through trying to salvage anything. Red apologizes. Green tells him it’s not his fault, even when he acted that way. It was just easier to blame Red than blame Gramps, especially when Green was young.

They talk about their issues. When they arose, why they arose. Red comes clean about why he chose his Charizard as a starter when he knew how much Green wanted one. Red noticed back then that Green was pulling away, getting shorter with him, and was losing himself in the dream of being Champion. Red explains that his childish mind thought if he chose Charmander, it would guarantee that Green would stay. That they would travel together, maybe as partners. But instead, it caused the opposite.

Green forgives Red. And Red forgives Green. The thing between them is still so weak and young, but it’s a start, and they will try to grow it into something stronger. They stay camped out in the wild, always together if they can help it. It makes Green miss Kalos a little bit less.

They have a battle in the Champion’s Room. It’s a spectacle and people paid money to see it. It’s their first battle since the one in this very spot eleven years ago. Red is still the same. His Team barely changed. His Eevee that evolved into Espeon lives at his mother’s house, so instead, he has a Lapras in her spot. But that’s it. Green’s Team is vastly different, and has moves that he didn’t know about as a twelve year old. His fighting style has changed. But he does not make the mistake to underestimate Red. They let their Pokémon battle and Green promises not to use Mega Evolution. He wins anyway. He wins and his jaw drops and he stares and he cannot believe it. He wins and Eva is jumping up and down next to him in celebration before Green’s last standing Pokémon, Abs, runs at him and hugs him. Green fears for his ribs for a moment.

People ask whether he is the Champion now. Green laughs and denies, saying that it was simply a friendship battle. He meets Red’s eyes, and Red smiles and shakes his head at him. Green wanted to be Champion to make the Professor proud, but now … he doesn’t want or need to be Champion. He has seen other things for himself.

When Green is twenty-three, he has a job in a bakery in Kanto. It pays the bills for the apartment that he and Red have moved into. Red has taken up most of his tasks as a Champion. That means he takes on any challengers who make it past the Elite Four. It happens more these days than it happened when they were young, but they never get past Red. When it comes to the press and the public, Red pulls Green into the mix. Says he’s a Champion as well. Red has single handedly decided that he and Green share the spot as the Kanto Champion just so he doesn’t have to deal with people outside of a battle. Green can accept that. When Green asks Red why Ethan isn’t the Champion since he defeated Green, Lance, and Red, Red tells him he defeated Ethan in a battle when he came down the mountain. Of course he did.

They fall into a routine. Green’s relationships with his sister and his friends have bettered themselves. They’re not back to what they used to be before his disappearance, but Green doesn’t want them to. He wants to build something better and stronger that he used to have. He hasn’t spoken to the Professor. He’s too interested in keeping his mental health intact. Daisy is saddened by his decision, but Green stands firm.

But even with the routine, Green feels restless. Something is pulling at his heart and his mind, and that something is Kalos. Green wants to go back. He wants to go home. The people in his life know that. They know it’s not a thing in the far future. The only thing keeping Green back is Red. If Green leaves, then Red will be alone with his duties as the Champion and no-one to act as a buffer to the public. Besides, they live together. And with their jobs, the rent is comfortable when shared but a little too pricy alone.

He doesn’t know how to approach the subject. He thinks about asking Red to go to Kalos with him. He wants to show Red the place that was his escape. But he isn’t sure. That is until Red has a breakdown and doesn’t come out of his room for an entire week. The pressure has gotten too much. Green decides to pull the brakes and tells the League that Red will never take up the role of a Champion again. They should look for a new one, because he and Red are done for now.

Green talks to Red through the closed door and brings him food. He tells him to use the bathroom, to shower, and to take care of himself even if he doesn’t want to see the world. While Green is in the kitchen preparing tea, he can hear the shower running. He leaves Red be, gives him time until Red comes creeping out of his room and talks with Green. They make it official: they’re pulling back from their League work for now.

Red asks Green to leave. Not in that way, he quickly reassures. He wants to leave Kanto with Green. And Green suggests to go to Kalos. Red agrees, almost too quickly. He is desperate to leave as soon as possible, get back on the road.

So they pack their things, say goodbye, and Green tells Professor Sycamore that he’ll be back soon with a friend. The Professor promises him to let them stay with him for a while until they can get an apartment. Green cannot wait to finally get back. The entire flight, he is too excited to sleep and instead spends it glued to the window, waiting to see the familiar landmass beneath him.

They’re both tired when they land, but Green forces himself to stay focused and not to fall asleep on the taxi ride. He’s back. Finally. Lumiose hasn’t changed since he left, and Green can’t help the smile as he watches the houses and the people passing by. Red sometimes looks out of the window, but for the most part, he looks at Green as if his reaction is the most interesting thing in the world. To be fair, Green isn’t usually this giddy about something.

When they arrive at Professor Sycamore’s place, the Professor hugs Green in welcome. He shakes Red’s hand and shows them the rooms where they can stay. Red looks around in interest, but he looks tired. Green knows that if they go to bed now, their sleep cycles will be fucked, so he suggests checking out the Professor’s sanctuary for abandoned Pokémon. Red perks up at that.

The sanctuary is a huge backyard, and even with the Pokémon already staying there, there is enough space for Green and Red to let their own Pokémon out to stretch and enjoy the light. While Red busies himself with looking through Green’s old Kalos PokéDex, Green texts Daisy to tell her of their safe arrival. Then, he texts his friends from uni that he is still in contact with. Sadly, that is not all of them.

They take a little to get on their feet. Green joins a research lab that Professor Sycamore recommended to him. A good place, a place where people legitimately want to find out more about Pokémon in order to help them. Green gets to work with some rare, endangered species that he has never seen before, and figure out why they are so rare – whether they are elusive or their offspring’s survival rate is really low or lots of infighting between members of the same species. Red uses Charizard to fly to the Battle Chateau almost every day, where he fights his way through the ranks. He comes back to their new shared apartment exhausted, most of the time.

He tells Red to take a break. He asks him when the last time was he had fun when he battled. Red tells him it was their battle. Green nods and says that Red needs to relax and see the world beyond Pokémon battles. Give his Team a rest and enjoy the sights. Red then says he feels guilty for making Green be the sole supporter of their finances and Green points out the amount of _stuff_ Red has brought back – valuable stuff like pearls and gold nuggets and fucking star pieces that they can sell for a shit ton of money.

So Red instead takes up exploring the forests and the routes, helping Green’s research by finding Pokémon out there and telling him about what he saw. Sometimes, he’ll find little treasures out there as well. When they’re back home and figuring out what to cook for the evening – a deal they made, they both cook, they both clean – Red will talk about the Pokémon he encountered or maybe even just a cool flower he saw. The tension is leaving his shoulders and his eyes sparkle. Green’s heart leaps whenever he sees Red so happy. It’s been a long while.

Spending so much time outside climbing trees and picking up Pokémon like a madman, Red builds up a tan and more muscle than before. He looks good. He looks happy. People leave him alone for the most part. Sometimes, he will encounter people who want to battle, but Red has learned to decline if he doesn’t want to.

Red doesn’t learn the Kalosian language, instead relying on Green to do the talking as always. He does say he likes how Green speaks it, and how his Kantonian accent shines through a little. Red does look up Kalosian Sign Language which differs from the one from Kanto. He gets the basics down fairly fast to at least communicate with a few people. When they go out in public, however, they’re mostly a package deal, so Red doesn’t even have to use it most of the time.

They have a good routine, a good life. They keep in contact with the people at home, but it’s clear that they don’t plan on coming back to Kanto anytime soon. Maybe not ever. Green makes sure Red doesn’t lose himself in his will to escape noise and people, and Red makes sure that Green doesn’t overwork himself again. There have been incidents where Green fell asleep at his workplace or the one memorable time that he fell asleep in the shower and Red somehow got him out, wrapped him in a towel, and took care of the wound on his forehead. He is still embarrassed by that.

When Green is twenty-four, things shift. He starts noticing _things_ about Red. Inane things, things that he shouldn’t even pay attention to. Like the way he always keeps his left eye closed and his right eye narrowed when the light is too bright in the morning. The way he tries to give both Pika and Eva the same amount of pets every day. The way he never ties the laces of his sweatpants, so they hang low on his hips … you catch the drift. Green knows what it means. He pretends he doesn’t. These feelings are bad news, so he tries to run. It doesn’t work.

Green wakes up one morning feeling warm and fuzzy and in a particular mood. Eva is nowhere to be found, so Green turns over onto his stomach and moves against the mattress, shoving a hand down his boxers before he is aware of who his mind is picturing, before he can really place the hard-earned muscles, the unruly dark brown hair, the wakeful grayish eyes. He comes with his name on his lips, and startles out of his afterglow once it all registers. He blushes for entirely different reasons and cannot meet his own eyes in the mirror when he goes into the bathroom to clean up. Did he really think about Red? He must be desperate, that must be it. Green just needs to get laid.

Green dresses up in an almost see-through purple crop-top and the tightest black jeans that he owns. He even puts eyeliner on. He only does that when he is on the specific mission to get some. He tells Red not to wait up. He goes out to clubs, buys drinks, gets drinks bought for him, he dances, he laughs, he flirts. He stays sober enough to only feel slightly loosened up.

A bold girl with hair dyed in all colors of the rainbow dances up close and teases fingernails over Green’s exposed abs. She asks him if he’s okay with it, and he says yes almost too quickly. She just smirks, they dance, and they kiss. He goes home with her. She sprawls out on her armchair like on a throne and Green spends most of the night kneeling between her legs. She tells him exactly what to do, grips his hair, and guides him until she is shaking.

Red notices. Green goes out often at night, dressed as slutty as he can. He comes back with bruises blooming on his neck, and Red stares so much that Green is glad he cannot see the ones beneath his clothes. The hickeys on the insides of his thighs. The marks of teeth on his chest. The remains of strong hands that gripped his waist. The tracks scratching fingernails left down his back. And whenever Red does something sexy, cute, or otherwise distracting, Green will press into these marks and remember other nights, pretending that he didn’t just think about Red that way.

He can’t think of Red that way. Neither in a sexual nor in a romantic way. It’s Red. They have a complicated history and their friendship is has been too fragile for too long with too many issues and too many things left unsaid, Green cannot compromise it further with stupid feelings. It means too much to him. He’s probably just still too keyed up. Maybe needs a good roll in the hay with a guy who could easily bench press him.

And Green searches for the shortest pair of shorts he owns, and a sheer short-sleeved black button-down. Red isn’t home at the moment, and he won’t be for another three days, he said. He’s out on a trek to somewhere, Green doesn’t know where exactly, but he does know that Red doesn’t have reception out there. He’s not too worried. But it means that the apartment is empty and Green doesn’t have to worry about disturbing him.

Green meets a handsome young man early in the evening in a club, who clearly shows interest in Green, and Green jumps at the opportunity. The guy whose name Green doesn’t catch over the loud music – something with an A? – is hot, broader and taller than Green is, and that was exactly what Green was looking for. So they dance, and they make out. They don’t talk much, but they don’t have to. They both know where the night is going, and it is sealed when Green asks him whether he wants to get out of there.

They make it back quickly, and Green isn’t even embarrassed if he comes across as a little bit desperate. He is, after all. He does tell his hookup that he has a roommate that isn’t home at the moment, just to make sure that he doesn’t try to lead Green to Red’s room – that has happened before and it gave Green a minor heart attack.

They’re in the apartment, slowly making their way down the hallway. Green is ready to just drop to his knees and blow the guy before they even reach his bedroom when the door opens. Red stands in the doorway, and Green and Something-With-An-A stop in their tracks. Red stares at Green who stands there, a blush on his cheeks, his hair in disarray that has nothing to do with his artfully controlled chaos, and his shirt unbuttoned and half-way down his shoulders.

Red signs a quick sorry and is out of the door before either of them can react. Green blows out his breath and runs a hand through his hair. Red doesn’t know that Green’s bi. Only Daisy knows from any of Green’s contacts back home. Green didn’t know how to tell him. That problem is out of the way, but now the next problem arises: he has to talk to Red about it.

The mood is ruined and Green goes to bed decidedly un-laid. His hook-up tries to get it started again, but Green shakes his head, apologizes, and pays a taxi for him. The guy’s disappointed, but he says he understands once Green explains that he wasn’t out to his roommate. Green waits for Red while seated on the couch, Eva out of her Pokéball and purring on his lap. After two hours, Green decides that Red won’t return, and goes to sleep after sending off a text to Red.

It takes Red another three days to finally come home and all the while, Green is almost sick with worry. He is worried about Red, where he is, when he’ll be back, whether he’s alright. He is worried about the situation. Why does Red need so much time alone after finding out that Green has a thing or two for men?

When Red returns, the first thing he does it apologize for leaving. He says it was an insensitive reaction. He doesn’t hate Green for his sexuality, of course he doesn’t. He was simply surprised and embarrassed. Green says that that’s fair. He apologizes for not telling Red sooner, but he didn’t know how to. Red asks how he knew. Green tells him about being faced with it in Kalos where everything was bigger and broader than in Kanto. He says that deep down, he probably always knew.

Red nods, smiles, and asks what Green wants for breakfast. As an apology for staying away for so long and worrying him. Green has to take a second to school his facial expression to not show how absolutely besotted he is. It’s Red. He can’t.

He can, it turns out. Whether he wants to or not, his attraction to Red grows. At some point, Green has to accept that. He fights it though, and how he fights it. His acceptance starts with pretending his attraction is solely physical. Red is hot with his broad shoulders and muscular arms and dark hair and grayish-brown eyes. Everyone can see that. But not everyone can see his gentleness, his excitement, his insecurities. Green is the only one that Red trusts with these things. With his voice. Red never spoke much, and he still barely talks. He speaks to his mother, and to Leaf, and to Green. So Green has to admit that yes, he’s more than just physically attracted to Red. He might quite possibly be in love.

And sometimes, Green stares too long at some minor thing that Red did that shouldn’t even matter but does somehow. And sometimes, Green blushes and stutters at a comment Red made. And sometimes, they lie together in the grass outside when they both find the time, and Green closes his eyes, and if he concentrates, he can feel Red’s warmth next to him.

It’s one of those nights where they’re both a little tipsy on the red wine Green bought, and Green grows bolder. Red looks at him with such a soft light in his eyes, and such a sweet smile, that Green finally has the courage to reach over and take Red’s hand in his. It’s not a big thing, but it’s something, and it means a lot to Green. And Red looks over at him, smiles even brighter, and squeezes his hand. Eva and Pika are rolled up together in the grass somewhere off to the side, so it seems like Red and Green are the only ones here.

Green squeezes Red’s fingers before he rolls over, pushes up on his elbow, and leans in closer to Red. He looks him in the eyes and raises his eyebrows in question. Red understands. He nods. So Green leans down further to him, and finally kisses him. Red is shy, and a little clumsy, and a little unsure, but he holds onto Green’s hand tightly as if he doesn’t want to let go.

When Green pulls back, he finds Red’s eyes once more. They smile, and there is a blush high on Green’s cheeks. Red says that he thought Green didn’t like men since all people he hooked up with while he stayed in Kanto were women. And then he thought that Green simply didn’t like him. Green apologizes for taking so long.

They spend their days trying to find a balance with this new thing. They hold hands a lot in the first days, but rarely kiss. Red tells him he has never been physically attracted to anyone before. Green promises to take things slow. He can do slow. He wants Red to be comfortable, after all.

Four months into their relationship – Green still gets Butterfree fluttering around in his stomach when he calls Red his boyfriend – Red says he wants to try taking their relationship further. He doesn’t meet Green’s eyes and he blushes brightly when he says it, but after repeated questioning, he promises that he is sure.

So Green takes him by the hand and brings them to their bedroom. He kisses him, and helps him get out of his clothes. He lays them down on the bed and watches out for his reactions to touch, but Green is unsure at what he sees. Red still doesn’t meet his eyes. He hides his face in his shoulder, and clenches the bedsheet in tight fists, and he looks about ready to bolt, and Green calls it off. He gets Red a robe and sits him down on the couch, dropping both Pika and Eva in his lap. Red says he felt like he was ready, but then he changed his mind and didn’t know how to say it. Green tells him it’s okay. He wants it to be good for Red.

So they wait another few weeks. They start off slow once Red says he wants to try again. Green tries his best not to get lost in his own desires and feelings, and instead focus on Red and his experiences. Green gains a new appreciation for slow and lazy sex as opposed to the quick and often rough hook-ups he had in the past. There’s something about it, with a person he legitimately cares about.

He gets off Red with grinding and handjobs at first, getting him used to sexually intimate touch. Red blushes a lot, but he’s more relaxed than the first time, and he meets Green’s eyes now. Red has told Green that he used to not care, but now he’s a little embarrassed to have so little experience at twenty-four. Green is almost certain that Red is demisexual, so it’s not like Green can blame him for this. There aren’t many people he’s emotionally close enough to in order to build up sexual attraction, and it seems like Green was the first. And only one. Green is more than a little smug about that.

They slowly inch their way into the territory of oral. Green tries his best to be patient for this, but it’s sort of difficult. Green loves giving head. It’s one of his favorite things to do in the bedroom. He loves his partner’s reactions, he loves to watch their faces and listen to their sounds, he even loves the ache in his jaw afterwards. He loves their hands in his hair. He loves the way they stare at him, at his spit-slick, red-swollen lips. Green loves it. And with how sensitive Red is, it’s going to be great. He’s right. It’s even better, because Red is really fucking cute.

Green teaches Red a few tricks along the way. He guides him through their exploration, and he learns a new type of patience. Red is probably the sweetest person Green’s ever had sex with. So attentive and focused on Green, even when Green tries to do have it the other way around. It’s kind of nice, because Red is just a bit taller than Green, and has broader shoulders, and Green sometimes likes feeling smaller than he is when Red holds him in his arms and kisses him.

Their routine barely changes. Red still takes it very seriously to make sure Green comes home and doesn’t sleep at the lab. He hates phone calls, but he will blow up Green’s phone with texts and pictures and memes, of all things. And Green remembers to go home and take a break. His shoulders and neck do hurt a lot, and he does mourn some of his fitness that he sacrificed for more time at the lab.

Red gets a job offer as an Elite Four Member, but he declines for now. They’re desperate to have him, so they agree to fill the position now and get back to him if another one ever opens. Instead, he goes back to the Battle Chateau to earn money. He tells Green to take it easy, take less hours at the lab. And Green, after debating with himself for way too long, agrees.

He’s bored out of his mind in his free time, so he tries out yoga and finds he likes it. He starts doing it in the morning, then during the day when he takes breaks from training, and during his breaks at his job. His Pokémon watch him curiously. Eva sometimes joins in as a tiny weight, or tries to replicate whatever Green is doing. Red likes how Green’s yoga sessions and his training are tightening his muscles again. He tells Green he seems less tired. Green has to agree. With the fewer hours, he gets more sleep, and he gets to do things he likes again. Like training with his Team, and looking up new recipes to try out with Red.

Red decides to look for a hobby as well. He takes up drawing. On canvas, on paper, in a really nice sketchbook Green got him, in the sand. He uses pens and pencils and brushes and crayons. He learns and improves, and then he buys body paint and asks to draw on Green. He paints colorful wings on Green’s back, kisses his neck, and tells him how pretty he is. Green never liked being called pretty because people used it to degrade him, but when Red’s deep voice utters the word, green melts. Red finds the sky pretty, and thunderstorms, and the icy tops of Mount Silver. Knowing that Red found him on par with nature herself was exhilarating.

When Green is twenty-five, he and Red move out of their apartment. It’s time to travel again, both of them feeling an itch they can’t scratch. So they go off, at first a few weeks in Kalos, then they follow the invitation to the Pokémon World Tournament in Unova. Green’s Unovan is rusty at best, but it’s better than nothing. They have fun for a few days battling. They meet the Unovan Champion, a young girl full of fire. She beats them both in a close match, and her joy is so genuine that Green can’t find it in himself to be disappointed.

Then Red sees Giovanni at the hotel and things go to shit real fast. Red gets a panic attack so severe that he throws up. Green almost kicks in the door to give the other Champions an earful what the Team Rocket Boss is doing here and why no-one is doing anything about it. Green is about ready to freak out when they get the news that Giovanni left without a trace. Of course he did.

Green is fuming on the way back to the hotel room, and he takes a longer route to run and blow off some steam. He returns and finds Red in bed, shoveling ice cream in his face with Pika on his lap. He already heard the news. He was there, he says, he was going to confront Giovanni. Green almost has a heart attack when Red tells him that, but he doesn’t reprimand him for it. It’s already too late and Red won’t listen anyway. Giovanni fled once Red came in a ten meter distance.

And though Green doesn’t scold him too much, he still tells him he was too reckless. Red pulls him down on the bed and kisses him. His mouth is cold and tastes of chocolate, and Green forgets to say anything else. Red smirks against his lips, and Green wants to pull back to knock him on the back of his head, but Red keeps him where he wants him. Before they started dating, Red never smirked. He picked up that cynical habit from none other than Green himself. He looks hot when he does it, but he’s so annoying as well.

When Green is twenty-six, he and Red decide to get married. It’s not a big thing where one of them gets down on one knee and asks the other for their hand in marriage. Instead, they talk about it in length, talk about the advantages and disadvantages, and talk about whether or not they’re ready. A little while after that, they start looking for rings together.

They get engaged in a nice, quiet restaurant that’s become one of their favorite places. It’s only a ten minute walk away from the apartment they started renting when they came back to Kalos from Unova, and the staff knows them well enough to always give them the booth in the far back by the window so they can have privacy.

They exchange their new rings and share a quick kiss. Green takes Red’s hands in his afterwards, holds them, and stares at their rings glinting in the candle light. They have a nice dinner, and Green cannot stop playing with the new ring around his finger. He loves it. He loves Red. They’re going to get married.

It’s a quiet affair when their ceremony happens. Their friends fly out from Kanto. Red’s mother comes by. Green’s grandfather does not. Green doesn’t mourn the fact. If Professor Oak ever wants their relationship to be mended, he’ll have to make the first step. Green doesn’t want to run after his approval ever again.

A few days after their wedding – that Green and Red mostly spend in their bed – Green gets a letter from Alola. Green’s heard of the region of Leaf, but he has never been there. Red leans over Green’s shoulder as he opens the letter. It’s from his grandfather’s cousin, Samson Oak. He congratulates Green on his marriage. He explains what the small gem that he put into the envelope – the one Pika and Eva are currently playing with – is. Green barely remembers Samson, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t interested in his offer.

His offer is for Red and Green to come to Alola to help them launch the Battle Tree – their version of a Battle Tower. Alola is an island paradise with different Pokémon and different experiences. Red suggests following the invitation – Green can still do research for the lab while over there, and maybe bring new information with him. And, they could fly a little earlier to enjoy a few weeks of honeymoon.

It’s a good idea, so Green agrees. They exchange a few E-Mails with Samson and his colleague, Professor Kukui, they make plans. For the first two weeks, Green and Red are going to simply enjoy and explore Alola, and stay at a hotel. After these weeks, they’ll move into rooms provided in the Battle Tree – however that works – and help them organize, battle other people, and recruit other strong trainers.

So they travel to Alola, and both are in awe at the beauty of the place. Even as tired and jet-lagged as they are – man, Green still hates that – they marvel at the islands in front of them. The people of Alola luckily also speak Unovan, so Green is able to get them to their hotel without much ruckus.

They unpack quietly, go take a shower, and change clothes. They’re still tired, but know not to go to bed, so instead, they opt to look at the cities. Poni Island is where the Battle Tree is located, but Green and Red are staying at a fancy hotel on Akala Island at the moment, so they decide to go to the beach nearby.

It’s hot outside, and Green could kick himself for wearing a black button-down, even if it’s short-sleeved, but he does look really good in it, so he can’t be too regretful. He and Red walk along the beach, hand in hand, while their Pokémon play in the sand and the water.

When they get back, Green is tired enough to fall asleep in the shower, but Red forces him to dry his body and his hair and to dress in his sleep-wear. They order room-service for dinner, and Green barely makes it through without face-planting in his plate. They brush their teeth next to each other, staring in the mirror already dead to the world, and curl up in bed afterwards. Green is out immediately.

They make love in the morning with the rising sun tinting their room and their skin golden and the cool morning air chasing goosebumps down their arms. They’re tangled in the sheets and each other, and Red’s wedding ring is a stark contrast to his hot hands. Red runs his hand along Green’s calf up to the back of his knee to hitch his leg up by his hip. Green frames Red’s face in his hands and muffles his gasps against his mouth as the angle changes.

They use the two weeks they have to explore all four islands and to look for different Pokémon. Green is in love with the regional variants they find in this different climate, and Red has to drag him away by the back of his collar. He reminds Green that he promised not to work on their honeymoon. Green lets himself be led away by his husband. He did promise, after all.

He follows Red to the island Ula-Ula because Red wants to find a Pokémon that dresses up like Pikachu. Green is a little creeped out by the abandoned store they find the Pokémon in, but all is forgotten when he finds out that Mimikyu is a fairy type as well as a ghost type. Green loves finding new fairy type Pokémon. The Mimikyu Red catches is shy and embarrassed to be left alone with Pika, but she quickly warms up. Green names her Miriam when Red has trouble coming up with a name for her that’s not just a short version of her species name.

Their honeymoon is over too soon for Green’s tastes, but he does look forward to working at the Battle Tree and to get his hands on the research on regional forms. They meet Alola’s Champion – another eleven-year-old, what is it with kids becoming Champion all around? She’s trying to distance herself from battling, which is why she doesn’t want to join the Battle Tree, and Green gets it a little. She’s a child, and defined by being a good Pokémon battler. Red had the same problem, that suddenly he was only defined by that – by the outside world and then by himself.

Red sees more value in himself now, but it took a while. And one look over at his husband tells Green that he does see himself in the girl, so they do their best to give her some advice. They start talking about what happened to her, and Green is about to quit everything when he hears from her that none other than Giovanni was here, and tried to enslave the world with some weird subspecies of Pokémon from another dimension just weeks before he and Red came to Alola. The old man apparently fucked off again to Arceus knows where, and Green hopes he stays gone forever.

He knows Red is ready to pack up and look for Giovanni, but Green puts his foot down. Too dangerous, too many problems, he is not ready to be a widow just yet, Red won’t find Giovanni anyway. So Red doesn’t take off to look for him, but he is restless for a week after. Green makes the executive decision to quickly look for people to take over the organization of the Battle Tree once the starting difficulties are dealt with. Then, they can take a little more time off, explore a little bit more, and return home.

It’s what they do. Green gets to do some further research, but Red makes him steer clear off the Ultrabeasts – the name for the alternate dimension Pokémon. He agrees, and only because he likes seeing Red smile. So Green takes notes on as many things as he sees, and Red falls in love with the Alolan Raichu – much to Pika’s jealousy. In fact, Pika is so jealous, that he refuses pets from Red at the end of the day. Green says that Pika acts more like a miffed wife than he does. Red just glares at him and tries to bribe his beloved friend with food. Luckily for him, Pika is a glutton, so he forgives Red soon enough. Green still finds it funny. 

Soon their time in Alola comes to an end, and they return to Kalos. They crash at the Professor’s place for a short while, because they don’t have an apartment anymore. Instead of renting another one, they get a house. A real one, with a backyard and a porch and everything. It’s great.

While Green works out his research with the lab, Red gets offered a position as an Elite Four member again. This time, he accepts. What’s even more interesting is that now the League tries to get Red to convince Green to also join the Elite Four. Once he has brought all of his notes and information to the lab, Green agrees to the new job offer, and puts in his resignation. He and Red become the first Elite Four members that don’t specialize on a specific Pokémon Type, and soon, the other Elite Fours follow their example. It’s more challenging for trainers this way, and they need to grow and have a balanced Team instead of just relying on type advantage all the time.

It’s a good life, the one they build together. Even living so far away from friends and family, Green is the happiest he could be. Every morning when he wakes up next to Red, every day he looks out on the streets of Kalos, he cannot ever regret his choice to run away and come here when he was younger. He doesn’t know how life would have turned out without the decisions he made, and he doesn’t want to know. Not when this, now, is everything he could have ever wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> This thing is different to what I usually write - as in, more dialogue. But I had fun and if you liked it, do tell me. If you have some ideas how I can improve, tell that to me as well! If I made some sort of mistake - language- or otherwise, let me know. English is not my native tongue.  
> If you want to, you can come find me on [tumblr](https://tomitom-writes.tumblr.com/)


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